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Judge Welbaum joined the Court of Appeals in February 2013 and was reelected to a second six-year term that commenced on February 9, 2019. He was a General Division Miami County, Ohio Common Pleas Judge from 1995 to 2010 and served as its Drug Court Judge for eight years. Judge Welbaum was frequently assigned by the Ohio Supreme Court as a visiting judge in many Western Ohio counties from 1996 to 2011. Judge Welbaum served as a visiting judge in the Supreme Court of Ohio in 2019. Also that year, the Supreme Court appointed him to serve on the Commission on Technology and the Courts for a three-year term. In 2023, the Supreme Court appointed Judge Welbaum to serve as a member of the Capital Case Attorney Fee Council for a three-year term. He has been elected Administrative and Presiding Judge of the Court of Appeals three times, serving in 2018, 2019, and 2023. Judge Welbaum has served as a presenter to many continuing education classes involving attorneys and judges in the Second Appellate District.
Judge Welbaum was born in Troy, Ohio and was graduated from Troy High School in 1970. He was graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. degree from The Defiance College in 1974. He worked his way through law school and was graduated from the Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law with a J.D. degree in 1977. Judge Welbaum was admitted to practice law in Ohio in 1977. He is also admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts of Northern and Southern Ohio, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.
Prior to his judicial service, Judge Welbaum was in the private practice of law with Miller, Schlemmer, and Luring Co., L.P.A., (1981-1989). He also served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney (1978-1982), Assistant Miami County Public Defender (1982-1984), Special Assistant United States Attorney, S.D. Dayton, Ohio (1990-1993), and ten years as the elected Miami County Prosecuting Attorney (1985-1994). From 2011 to 2013, Judge Welbaum served as Chief of the Criminal Justice Section of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.
Judge Welbaum is a member of the Miami County and Montgomery County Bar Associations and the Ohio State and American Bar Associations. He previously served as President of the Miami County Bar Association. He has served the community in many leadership positions and has received numerous awards for his service. He lives in Troy with his wife, Peg. They have two adult children.